Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Stock Position in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in shares of Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 157,149 shares of the company’s stock after selling 933 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Ingredion were worth $17,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of INGR. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 73.0% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 752,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,019,000 after acquiring an additional 317,509 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ingredion by 74.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 540,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,174,000 after acquiring an additional 230,885 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ingredion by 2.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,345,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $722,810,000 after buying an additional 161,922 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in Ingredion by 833.7% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 136,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,442,000 after buying an additional 121,976 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp Et Al purchased a new position in Ingredion during the third quarter valued at approximately $7,889,000. 85.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on INGR shares. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Ingredion in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ingredion from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ingredion from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $122.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ingredion from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ingredion presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.67.

Ingredion Stock Performance

NYSE INGR opened at $114.59 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.94, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.81. Ingredion Incorporated has a twelve month low of $89.54 and a twelve month high of $118.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $115.21 and a 200 day moving average of $108.49.

Ingredion (NYSE:INGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.10. Ingredion had a return on equity of 18.57% and a net margin of 7.88%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. Ingredion’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ingredion Incorporated will post 9.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ingredion Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a $0.78 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Ingredion’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.50%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total value of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at $3,333,407.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO James P. Zallie sold 54,581 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.24, for a total value of $6,399,076.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,246 shares in the company, valued at $11,635,601.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry Fernandes sold 2,369 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.08, for a total value of $272,624.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,966 shares in the company, valued at $3,333,407.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,921 shares of company stock worth $6,903,045 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

About Ingredion

Ingredion Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells sweeteners, starches, nutrition ingredients, and biomaterial solutions derived from wet milling and processing corn, and other starch-based materials to a range of industries in North America, South America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.